


king and lionheart

by hartbun



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Short, just my little musings, zolu centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hartbun/pseuds/hartbun
Summary: Somehow, they got tangled up together, one now incomplete without the other.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

He tastes like sake, which is obvious. He always does, warm and burning at the back of his throat like a dull fire. He always tastes like sake, but there’s more. He tastes like lightning, and rain about to fall. He tastes like a meadow in the early morning, the sun about to touch green grass. Tangled up in him he can taste salt, a sea breeze. There’s the taste of sunshine, and distant laughter. And meat. Always meat. 

Somehow, they got tangled up together, one now incomplete without the other. Tangled up like ropes keeping the sails up, tangled like the legs of two lovers sharing a bed that’s too small, tangled like worn and calloused fingers combing through dark and wild hair. They are both tangled and completely lost in each other. 

Rumbled snoring, and the soft push and pull of his chest with every breath. It’s something he’s so used to, but he could watch it every day for the rest of his life, limbs all tangled, breath all hot against his cheek. Light slips through the gaps in the curtains, and it makes the sight look almost heavenly. He nuzzles closer, and he can catch the soft smell of a sea breeze beneath the sake.


	2. Chapter 2

It was easy to give himself over to Luffy, Zoro decided. It was easy to let every action, every muscle in his body become an extension of his captain’s will. Of course that is the job of any first mate, but Zoro’s loyalty runs deeper than that. 

If his captain wants him to strike down a massive wave, it will be done. If he wants Zoro to cut down hundreds of enemies at once, he’ll do it. If he wants Zoro to get ripped apart and put back together, Zoro wouldn’t even waste a breath to say yes. There are agreements that never have to be spoken out loud to be understood, just a wordless acknowledgment between a captain and his first mate. Neither has ever said it before, never when standing on the warm grass of the deck, never even in hushed whispers when the chill of the night brought Luffy to his bed. 

Zoro would follow Luffy to the ends of the Earth and back, and Luffy would do the same. They made their agreement a long time ago, in shared cuts and scrapes, in tender bruises, under an open sky on an endless sea. Just the two of them, when the only certainty they had was one another’s company. 

Calloused fingers pass over bruised knuckles, light as a butterfly kiss. One life is given for one dream, as their dinghy sails to the ends of the Earth.


	3. Chapter 3

Bandages wrapped tight, shallow breathing, a candle burning down, clinging to the last bit of light it can offer. Luffy sits, and watches, because what could possibly steal his attention away when Zoro needed it most?

A routine of sorts emerges. They fight, barely making it, more scrapes, more cuts, more bruises. Zoro, hiding away so they can’t see what new and terrible injury he’s acquired this time. And like the wounded beast he is, Luffy coaxes him out of his hiding spot. And then he waits and waits and waits until he’s well enough to repeat the process. Luffy worries for his beast.

The whole crew knows, it’s impossible not to, how much the first mate values their captain’s life. He holds it above all else, wears his loyalty on his sleeve, bleeds it into the dirt, carves it into his enemies. But the first mate doesn’t know (maybe even refuses to) how much the reverse is true. 

Luffy adores his first crew mate, his first friend. The only person in the world Luffy will sit still for, share his lunch with, trust to shoulder his burden. There is no one without the other, Luffy can no longer imagine a life where Zoro is not there. 

The question lingers on his tongue, dry and heavy. Whether Zoro is even willing to consider living for his captain instead of dying. If he knows the immense weight his willingness to self sacrifice leaves on Luffy’s mind. Luffy wakes up some nights, a scream behind clenched teeth, from nightmares of Zoro’s blood thick and dried on his hands. And it makes him scared how often that image almost becomes real.

But for now, Zoro sleeps, unable to harm himself anymore. And Luffy waits, patient and still until he’s ready to return.


	4. Chapter 4

Distantly, he hears his name being called. Frantic and desperate. Noise unable to break the surface, the ocean gently pulls him down, down, down. Her demand is urgent, yet still she tugs him gently, like with the hands of a lover. Luffy, unable to resist, like always, closes his eyes, let’s her fill his lungs and carry him away.

Every time he is unable to do anything but resign himself to the ocean’s whim, get swept up in it, it whispers and lures him away from...from....

From what? His mind is too hazy, Chopper would tell him later about lack of oxygen in the brain, but Luffy would never remember. Gently he sinks, into an inky darkness that whispers and coos sweetly in his ear. Like a fool, he always follows. 

Every time he falls, he always breaks the surface already with a grim acceptance. His last breath had been drawn long ago, and he knows it, finds comfort in the ease of drowning. 

And suddenly he’s ripped away from her arms, and Luffy has to pry his tired eyes open. 

Green and warmth and blood and steel. It’s Zoro, it’s always Zoro. 

The ocean tries to cling to him, yank him down with one more effort, but Zoro is stronger. He’s always strong when Luffy needs him to be. Together they pull back up to the surface, and almost in unison, they breathe. 

Zoro holds tight to his anchor, and Luffy is relaxed in the arms of his lover.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun rises on Thriller Bark. Light pools over the rocky crevices of the artificial island, and it is red and thick and heavy. His breathing comes out in horrible wheezes, but his lungs persist almost just to spite him. Pain sticks to him nearly as much as the blood staining every inch of his body, bleeding out into the earth beneath him. And Zoro stands, almost in a challenge.

Over his haggard breaths he hears a distant sound. Laughter. It’s light and airy and full of so much joy. A voice free of pain. Cracked lips curl up at the edge to form a dry smile. He knows what he did was right, and he doesn’t have to worry anymore. He wants to hear that beautiful sound forever, the thing he fought to protect. He wants it to be the last thing he hears, the lullaby of his death.

There’s a far off sound of someone yelling at him. From further away he can hear a demand to tell him what happened, which he can barely hear over the sweet sound of a careless laugh. 

Nothing, nothing happened, he finds himself saying. He closes his eyes, content and relieved to know the man kept his word. Luffy, his captain, is safe. His family is safe. That was all he needed. Having held on longer than he needed, Zoro lets his legs give out. 

Far away, he hears someone screaming his name, but as the soaked red dirt becomes his pillow he hears a nearby melody of laughter lulling him to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The two of them sit, cramped and close, in the small dinghy. A king and his lion heart. 

Neither of them know this yet, one still with the hopeful gleam of adventure in his eyes, the other yet to find his resolve. 

But for now, it’s just them, and the world has yet to know their names. Elbow to elbow, thigh to thigh. It’s a humble beginning, and they don’t know where the ocean will take them yet, and the current bobs them gently back and forth. 

No one can confirm it, but looking back they would say there were twice as many stars that night.


	7. Chapter 7

His feet planted firmly, like he imagined Zoro had done. He thought of Zoro raising his swords high, never once relenting until his foe either died or fled. Luffy wanted to imagine Zoro as stronger than whatever had done this to him, and dear god, he hoped Zoro was. He never wanted there to be an enemy Zoro couldn’t beat. He didn’t want there to be anything that could take his precious swordsman away. 

Light spills over the walls, and he sees what he knows is there. Zoro’s devotion spilled onto the ground. It’s everywhere. He feels sick. He gags. He chokes. He sobs. 

It is morning on Thriller Bark, but it does not feel like the sun is rising.


	8. Chapter 8

Roranoa Zoro does not shed a tear for his captain, and the idea that he ever would brings humiliation to the both of them. 

Zoro does not cry for his captain, not even after he lost more than he could ever lose. Not when he is more alone than he ever has been. 

Zoro does not shut himself in his room in that castle. There are no wails that echo down those halls. No wine bottles that go missing. No newspapers scattered about. 

Zoro does not ache to hold his captain. Doesn’t curse his weakness and stupidity. Doesn’t consider going against an order and finding his captain before the two years are up. 

Zoro doesn’t go solemn and distant on the anniversary of the death of a man he barely knew. Doesn’t look at the newspaper clippings and wish that somehow he could have been there. 

Zoro doesn’t return to Sabaody two weeks early. He isn’t disappointed to be there first. He doesn’t wonder if they all secretly left without him because he really is that useless. He doesn’t drown out his thoughts in booze and wake up in a new grove every day to drown out that thought. 

He isn’t secretly relieved to see the others show up. Isn’t not so secretly excited to see his captain, his captain, again after so long. 

Isn’t torn up just looking at the wound carved into his chest. 

Doesn’t pull Luffy aside later to finally hug him, spout out apologies. 

Luffy doesn’t hug him back and reassure him with almost uncharacteristic gentleness. 

There isn’t some renewed understanding between them after finally grieving together after two years.

Zoro doesn’t cry, or grieve, or wail. He just watches silently, staring at his captains forced smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Stinkyyyyyyy


End file.
